Various types of printing methods, mechanisms, and delivery technologies have been developed for applying ink to various print media, such as paper and cards, or otherwise forming printed indicia on print media. One method is thermal print media. Another method is the use of ribbons with multiple color dyes for color printing onto separate print media. A problem that must be addressed when using ribbons with multiple color dyes for color printing is aligning each series of a repeating pattern of the color dyes with the print head. Various methods have been used to address this problem, such as using a sensitometer, a code field, various light sources, and holes or markings on the ribbon substrate. However, improved and more functionally sophisticated print media and methods to align repeating patterns for color printing with a thermal print head are desirable.